So This is Love
by BritishPixie
Summary: Charles meets Ellie Barrett at the 4077 and is instantly attracted to her. Neither of them make their move in Korea, but when they both end up at Boston, will their attraction turn to something more? Prequel to "One Thing at a Time". Reviews appreciated.
1. Chapter 1: A Chance Meeting

**This story starts during the April Fool's episode of MASH**

**I don't own Charles or any one else, except Ellie.**

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Lieutenant Ellie Barrett, newly assigned to the 4077 MASH, leaned out of her tent as she heard hushed rustling from where she had been told Major Houlihan's tent was. Her eyebrows went up as she saw 3 men carefully dismantling the tent, leaving only the supports of the structure and the insides intact. She stepped out, tucking a few strands of golden hair behind her ear. Ellie stepped closer, curiosity overpowering her good sense to simply keep her nose out of things. One of the men caught her eye; a tall stocky man with curly hair- what was left of it any ways. As she got closer to what was left of the head nurse's tent, she could see he had pale blue eyes, sparkling with mischief.

Major Charles Winchester chuckled as he took down tent flaps, keeping a sharp look out for the tent's owner. During his scan of the area, his eyes settled on a new nurse, still in her dress uniform. His first impression of her was one of loveliness; golden blond hair flowing over her shoulders, deep green eyes that reminded him of his own front lawn in Boston. He paused in his work to just watch her for a moment, turning away just as soon as she noticed his gaze and sent him a wink.

"Should I be asking, or will it just get me in trouble?" she asked with a good natured grin.

"Best not to ask. Let's just say that the Major is getting her just desserts. Or should I say breakfast," a tall lanky man said, giving her a mischievous grin.

"Indeed. I suppose I'll have to watch for whoopee cushions then?" She gave a smile again, making Winchester a bit weak in the knees all of a sudden.

"Not from me, Lieutenant. From these juveniles, perhaps," Charles said, quickly composing himself as he moved over to her and kissed the back of her hand. "Major Charles Emerson Winchester III. A pleasure to meet you."

"Ellie Barrett. And the rest of you?" Her eyes widened somewhat as the dark haired man who had addressed her first practically charged them, snuggling up against her.

"Hawkeye Pierce. They tell me I'm a captain, but I prefer 'misplaced civilian'. Maybe we could get to know each other a little later?" he asked, his voice dripping with suggestions that she never would have dreamed an officer would make. He gave an exaggerated wink that he obviously thought was funny; she knew his type- he believed himself to be God's gift to humanity in general, and women in particular. She chuckled weakly and backed away from him, bumping into Winchester. She blushed and looked away, glancing back for a second before turning to Hawkeye's mustached companion.

"BJ Hunnicutt," the other man said simply, brushing his sandy hair from his face with a wide grin. He offered his hand to her, which she shook with a friendly smile.

"What does 'BJ' stand for?" she asked curiously, clasping her hands in front of her.

"Anything you want," he answered with a wink far more friendly and subtle than his friend's, then dragged Hawkeye back to the tent. Ellie turned around to smile at Charles, extending her hand.

"I look forward to working with you, Dr. Winchester." She blushed again as he turned her hand in his to kiss it again.

"And I you, Miss Barrett. Adieu." Charles walked back to the tent as well, a little more briskly than his usual walk. He so desperately wished he had Pierce's audacity, could even do so much as invite her back to the Swamp for a quiet drink without thinking that he had overstepped some boundary. Surely she must have someone. Or so the major told himself to keep from thinking of her any longer.


	2. Chapter 2: Truth Not Easily Acknowledged

**Lately, in my head, Ellie has begun sounding rather like Luna Lovegood from the latest Harry Potter movie. For some reason, the soft breathy voice sounds rather good in the dialogue. Also, I have absolutely no medical training whatsoever, so I won't try to do anything too technical in the OR scenes. Anyhow… REVIEW!**

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It had been a few days since Ellie had arrived. Charles couldn't help but think she was one of the best nurses he'd seen in his time in Korea, second to the Major herself. They were working on a rather difficult abdominal surgery, made easier by both parties' competence, when the enemy started shelling. Charles had gotten used to the sound, but the young nurse hadn't experienced it before.

Ellie froze, nearly dropping the sponge she held as a bomb exploded. She looked up at Major Winchester, breath coming in short gasps. "Was that as close as it sounded?" she asked softly, not wanting to sound like a coward. Charles paused a moment, glancing around to make sure no one was watching.

"Possibly. I find that thinking of something else will make the time go faster. Tell me, do you read the classics often?" he asked, glancing up from the patient under his skilled scalpel.

"Yes, but how will that-" she began to ask, cut off as he asked for another instrument. She gave a small shriek as the room shook with an explosion, instinctively covering the wound with her body.

"I will give a line from a novel, and you will tell me what the novel is," Charles explained, watching her intently. Perhaps it was out of character for him to even care, but he needed her to remain calm for the OR session. Besides that, she made him feel… Well, he couldn't put his finger on it, exactly, but he certainly -felt- when he was around her, no mistake about that.

"I'll give it a try," she answered, her hands shaking slightly.

"First one. 'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.'" Charles paused, wondering why he'd chosen that particular line, then asked for some suction, watching a smile light up Ellie's face. She hardly flinched this time when another explosion rocked the room.

"Pride and Prejudice. You're right, it does help." She continued on, her confidence growing as Charles gave her another line.

By the time the casualties were all resting in post-op, the pair had exhausted their repertoire of novels, and Ellie was feeling much better. "Thank you, doctor. You were very helpful," she said with a smile.

"Not at all. I have to say I rather enjoyed trying to remember all of those novels." He smiled down at her, his smile fading as she blew him a kiss and ran off to the Mess tent. He swallowed hard, turning to his tent and sitting on his cot uneasily. He turned on his record player, putting on the record of Beethoven's sixth symphony. Charles laid back and closed his eyes, and couldn't but help to think of a particular piece of literature that he now understood far too well.

_Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? __  
__Thou art more lovely and more temperate: __  
__Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, __  
__And summer's lease hath all too short a date: __  
__Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, __  
__And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; __  
__And every fair from fair sometime declines, __  
__By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; __  
__But thy eternal summer shall not fade __  
__Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; __  
__Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, __  
__When in eternal lines to time thou growest: __  
__So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, __  
__So long lives this and this gives life to thee. _

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**The poem is Shakespeare's 18th sonnet. Review, please!**


	3. Chapter 3: Music of the Night

I apologize for the lack of updates, but the silence of readers can be rather disheartening. The only review I'd had on any story I've done recently, of the two, was one on the little blurb that takes place after this story, "One Thing at a Time". It wasn't exactly encouraging, though I've gotten over my initial feelings for it… But my point is that I didn't feel like anyone really cared until I got a review. So… if you want to hear more from me, REVIEW.

This takes place during "No Sweat", the episode where there's a heat wave and Charles has tax problems. Comes in between the one where Klinger saves Charles' life and the camp gets 500,000 tongue depressors and Hawkeye builds a monument out of them.

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**Chapter 3 Music of the Night**

Ellie sat up in her cot, breathing heavily. She wiped the sweat from her brow and swung her legs over the edge, letting her feet dangle for a moment before she stood, sliding her feet into slippers. She stood and pulled on her robe, trying to forget the dream she had; not because it had been a particularly bad dream, but because it was rather good. Perhaps too good. In the year since she'd come to the 4077th MASH, her thoughts had strayed from professionalism to something decidedly different. But that was the precise subject that she needed to get off her mind.

She tied the robe's belt and wandered off to the officer's club, hoping playing the piano there would calm her down at least enough to go back to sleep. For the first time, she was glad that the mercury in the thermometer had taken another climb; no one would think her sweat out of place. As she walked, she glanced over at the mess tent, her green eyes falling on Charles, frantically trying to solve some problem that had made him spread papers all over the long tables. She turned away and hurried a little more, almost as though avoiding the Major.

She slipped inside, leaving the door open for a bit of a breeze, then sat down to the piano. She cracked her knuckles a bit before beginning to play; a section of Beethoven's 9th symphony, a rather quick section to try to burn some energy. Her eyes drifted shut as she looses herself in the music, her hands flying over the keys, hardly aware of anything else. So, when someone spoke from the doorway, she almost jumped from her skin.

"You play beautifully," Major Winchester said softly, smiling a little; not his usual pompous, condescending smirk, but a genuinely kind smile she'd only seen a few times. "Please, don't stop on my account. I wanted to take a break from taxes for a moment, and I heard you playing…" He drifted off and motioned to the piano.

"You just startled me, that's all," Ellie explained, scooting up to the piano again. Rather than playing something that he would be certain to know, she decided to play a personal composition, a slow, whimsical song that was obviously a love song. She glanced up from the keys for a moment to look at the Major, and slowed for a moment as she saw the peaceful look on his face.

"I'm not familiar with the piece," he offered as she refocused herself. She cleared her throat and shifted, not meeting his eyes.

"It's something I wrote in college. I took a few composition classes." Ellie smiled to Charles before beginning another of her own songs, this one much sadder, but still with the same innocence of the first song. Her eyes closed again as she played, almost forgetting that she had an audience, barely noticing as Charles sat down on the bench next to her. But when she felt his hand on hers, she noticed all right. She noticed how soft his hands were, how his nimble, almost delicate fingers curled around her hand. She stopped playing and looked up at him, her breath catching a little as her emerald eyes met his crystal blue ones. When he leaned down closer, she leaned in, almost closing the distance between them. Before they could kiss, Ellie pulled away, standing and moving away from him a bit quickly. As soon as her hand left his, she missed its warmth, the electric feeling she'd gotten from the tiny contact. If his hands left such a feeling in her, she could only imagine what his lips on hers would feel like.

"I… I hope that I did not do something out of turn… I just…" Charles stammered, looking away a little awkwardly.

"No… I should probably get to bed. Early rounds," she explained, watching as he stood, offering her his arm.

"Allow me to walk you to your tent, then," he replied, every bit the gentleman. She took his arm, blushing slightly as she felt the muscle under the softness of his arm. They walked in silence, neither one wanting to attempt to ease the awkwardness between them out of fear of simply ruining what passed for a working relationship at the MASH. When they arrived, Charles took her hand in his, kissing the back of it as he had done when they had first met, only this time it was far more lingering, as though kissing it like he'd wanted to kiss her lips. "Good night, Ellie," he half whispered, using her given name for the first time; it had always been "Lieutenant", or "Miss Barrett".

Ellie reached up to run her hand over his cheek gently before smiling to him. "Good night, Charles," she whispered back, slipping through the door of her tent.

Once she was sure he had gone back to his tax problems in the mess tent, Ellie threw off her robe and rushed under the covers of her cot, simply closing her eyes and keeping them closed until she drifted off to an uneasy sleep, only to be haunted by her dream once more.

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_Ellie gasped softly as Charles pushed her gently against the wall, his soft, dexterous fingers moving over the skin of her stomach slowly. She purred as his lips moved from hers down to her throat, finding sensitive areas she hardly knew existed until he found them. One of her hands curled in his hair, holding him close, while the other sprawled across his back, helping to support her. She gasped with need as he pressed closer, one of his hands going lower, threatening to drive her mad until-_

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She sat up with a start, breathing heavily. She could hear the sound of the Colonel shouting triage orders, along with the now familiar clamor of business as usual. She stood up shakily, pulling on her robe once more to join the rest of the team in the compound, moving quickly to the changing room where she scrubbed in. As she moved into the OR, she paused as she saw she would be paired with Charles. She quickly dismissed any emotion that would get in the way of their work.

She paused once more as she felt his hand on hers through their gloves as she reached for an instrument; a slight brush, enough to make her face redden a little as she remembered what her subconscious had made those hands of his do. She cleared her throat and handed him his scalpel, shoving her nightly thoughts of the doctor to the back of her mind… for the time being.

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In my mind, the songs played by Ellie are in fact _Ice Dance_ from Edward Scissorhands, and _My Immortal_, by Evanescence. I have always liked for my characters to sort of claim _Ice Dance_ as their own, especially in a romantic scene, and _My Immortal_ has such a pretty piano melody already that I couldn't resist.

Chapter 4 is well underway. Review, please!


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